Visions of his Past
by Lazarosi
Summary: A depiction of Levi Ackerman's first mission as a part of the Survey Corps. It's supposed to be 'non risk', but things never quite turn out like that. One shot written for my own enjoyment. Please review, it truly will be appreciated.


As Levi Heichou grappled onto the lowest protruding branch of the great redwood, he was hit with an overwhelming wave of what could only be described as nostalgia. He had made it a personal habit to stray away from such trivial and insignificant matters, especially considering his particular line of work, yet on occasion he found himself unable to push back the offending emotional surges. Levi was only human after all, despite what those under his command, in addition to the general populous may seem to think, though for vastly differing reasons of course. This particular location held strong memories for the now stoic lance corporal. It should have meant the same to the others, but of course they were unable to be here. They were dead after all. A sharp scowl appeared on his face, intended for himself. He did not come here to reminisce. He came here to to his job. A combination of doing his duty for humanity and his bi-weekly pay, just like all the others that has pledged their lives to the cause; most more willingly and with more blind delusion that himself, but done so none the less. Levi was better than the rabble though, hence why he found himself with the time to even stand still, suspended in mid air, and simply think. Think of what happened twelve years ago, in the same forest he found himself ordered to make his way through as a part of an upcoming expedition at this moment in time.

When last here the weather was overly pleasant. He could recall finding it displeasureable, the suns liquid gold rays working their way through the breaks in the sheer wall of dense foliage that blocked the undeniably brilliant blue sky from view, warming the olive green of his cloak, reflecting from the brand new ODM gear he had equipped, blinding those in the near vicinity and heating it up at a gradual pace as he had walked. The mulch beneath his boots muffled every step that he took, and smelled of damp following the previous nights great storm, working its way up Levi's nasal, infected him with it's attractive scent as it matured in the midday sun. The smell was carried on the still humid air, denying him the most satisfying pleasure of a swift inhalation of frosty atmosphere, just as it should be in the dead of winter; but no, nothing worked out the way he had wanted it. A swift and rushing breeze had caught him off guard, an addition in adding to his confusion toward the environment. The cloak adorned around his nape whipped in the sudden onslaught of pressure, boldly flashing the Wings of Freedom to those who stood behind him, making a cracking sound that assaulted his and his comrades ears.

If you were to ask the lance corporal to picture that exact moment in time, twelve years ago, he would be perfectly able. Perfectly unable would be a more accurate turn of phrase, as it was not as though he had ever actually attempted to imagine the scene. It would just come to him in a flash at moments, often inconveniently. Moments such as this one. He pictured the dark brown trunks of the many trees that would interrupt your line of sight wherever you were to look, so dark that the appeared inky black, even on a well lit day such as this one. He pictured the deep green foliage, shrubbery and leaves that alternated between so pale it could almost be considered white, do as absent of colour as the trunks appeared to be. He smelled the mulch on the ground, the damp steel scent of his and his party's gear, all of which overpowered by the tension all around. He even tasted the sweat as he licked around his lips, incited by the winter sun beating through the branches above their heads, and his paranoia from being beyond the wall for the first time in his short life. He had just stood there. All of them had. Anticipating anything at any time; but still. Not this.

They had come from all perceivable directions. Enormous, lumbering humanoid creatures known as Titans. Skin stretched over their oversized forms without difficulty, whilst simultaneously looking to be so strained over the limbs. Limbs that he knew he was fully capable of removing, but to what avail. They would regenerate within minutes so what was the point of even making an attempt to kill the things. All thoughts that has ever so briefly flashed through the mind of Levi at the time. He was ashamed of those thoughts. The Titans ranged from three metre regulars, to sixteen metre abnormals that even the most veteran soldiers would face difficulty in taking out, let alone a group of seven recruits, barely out of training, and still considering themselves mere cadets. With every step a Titan would make, the earth would ever so briefly leap from the ground, before settling back down into place - as a result of the vibrations. Vibrations that Levi was only just coming to realise had knocked him to the ground, along with the other six that had accompanied him on the _no risk_ mission that's only purpose was to pick up more bread from the main supply dump for the survey corps.

Levi found the time to curse his higher ups for their poor judgement, and curse Erwin Smith for conscripting him in a rare moment of weakness. Then to curse himself for not deserting while he'd had the opportunity. In the time that he was making an attempt to recall every foul word he'd ever known, a petite girl - even shorter than he was - had been grasped firmly around her midsection by a twelve metre abnormal, that rushed over to the group at a faster rate than the others were capable of mustering, her mud brown hair tied back for convenience tangled and matted to her sweaty scalp. Her mouth was opened in a scream that would never find it's way from between her lips, the abnormal placing it's second hand around her legs, twisting in a slow and delicate fashion, splitting the girl in half with deliberate precision.

None of the others that had been sent on the mission had ever seen a person die before, and it showed. Their faces contorted into twisted grimaces upon registering the sudden crack of bones, followed by the tearing of flesh, and the finality of the ripping skin. Blood, thick and deep red, in larger quantities that even Levi had ever been unfortunate enough to lay witness to, poured from each half of what used to be a living, breathing and laughing human being. It coated the smooth 'skin' of the Titan's hand, spilling out and onto the dirt that just before smelled so delightfully. Petrichor replaced by the vividly coloured liquid seeping further and further into the previously untainted earth.

It felt too cliché looking back on it, but at that moment.. time truly stood still, second upon second of agonising silence and lack of movement, as though the Titans respected the shock they were collectively going through. Their politeness only went so far, as the abnormal that was responsible for the death of the young girl raised her torso towards the gaping abyss of it's mouth, softly placing the corpse between it's grinning lips, and swallowing. The simple and expected action broke the trance hanging over the rest of the company, as the six remaining leaped up from their positions in the dust, and drawing blades from sheaths with defiance. Each one of them knew that today was not the day that they would die. Not one of them doubted that for an instant.

During the excessively long amount of time that it took the men to stand, the opposition of humanity had made it's move,the same move that it always made. Collectively, all the Titans made a mad dash to be the first to reach the small group, an inner hunger gnawing at their insides. Some were faster than others, but it was largely irrelevant, the most recent members of the scout regiment released the grapples of their 3DMG in the desired direction, and made a hasty attempt to scatter. Like the Titans, unfortunately, some were faster than others. Only half of those who made the attempt to flee succeeded in the attempt, the three who didn't being bombarded from all sides, falling victim to the ravenous horde, the fastest of the Titans gorging themselves on the unlucky few.

Passing a discreet glance between the two other men was enough to show Levi how unsettling the whole ordeal was for the others, he assumed he looked similarly, but at a time such as this one things as shallow as how one looks is pushed aside for the signature combination of remorse and relief that follows evading such a situation. Hastily manoeuvring their way through the same forest he had found himself to be admiring less than five minutes before, it registered in the back of Levi's mind that his blond companion was speeding far ahead of him an the other boy. He gave it little thought for the next thirty seconds or so, when just as he was about to be lost into the distance, being the range of Levi's eyesight, the boy stopped moving altogether. He had run out of gas. He had been using excessive amounts, meaning that whilst he had managed to go faster than the others, there wouldn't be enough left in his canisters to get him all the way back to HQ. Dropping like a stone sinks into water, he hit the ground with a thud that simply screamed finality. The look that Levi made was unnecessary, but did confirm what the both of the knew to be true. He was gone; having fallen twenty metres. They didn't waste time stopping.

Usually if a group were to find themselves in a predicament such as this, they would simply use the flare gun and smoke signals provided, and would receive help. However, there were never meant to be any Titans in the area. There just weren't, it was an impossibility. The train of thought went out as quickly as it had cropped up within the realm of Levi's mind, choosing instead to focus on the blur of dark brown trunks as he sped by, using his gas sparingly. By his estimate it was another quarter of an hour before they would make it back safe, so he just focused on the task at hand,

unburdening his mind, and setting on his 'autopilot'. The aura of nonchalance emitting from Levi was soon noticed by the still shocked companion with the shortly cropped hair. Everyone trusted the instincts of Levi. The man had finished top of his year as a cadet, steering his own path away from the elite Military Police that he had been offered a place with, along with only nine others, opting instead for the Survey Corps. Most who came here were idealists who wished to make a delusional attempt to vanquish all the Titans in existence, but Levi was the polar opposite to that. Cold, uncaring and deadly, seemingly well suited to a safe life of little action within the relative safety of the walls. If he had so desired, he could have gone his whole life without ever even setting eyes on a Titan, let alone fully subjugating one; But he chose this life, in the eyes of others he could be an idol, regardless of how inept he was in terms of experience in the field, his squad-mates who joined him from the same year looked up to him. That included the boy with the shaved head currently moving alongside him. His genuine and untarnished trust that he had for the judgement of Levi was the reason he allowed himself to relax, even following the deaths of five of his friends. That trust was why he too let down his guard, and ignored his surroundings.

It was an undeniable mistake to have two recruits making their way through Titan infested territory, alone, and at high speed. Even at full concentration a person has to be fully focused to acknowledge and react to what is going on with their surroundings when using the 3DMG. This mistake was actualised to the two as brutally as is to be expected of reality, a ten metre abnormal hurling it's entire body upwards, latching onto the leg of the cadet with no hair, and tugging ferociously downward before colliding with the base of one of the many trees. The rough landing gave Levi the chance to rotate his slight form in a one eighty degree angle to face his adversary, suddenly riddled with the anger and determination for a petty sense of vengeance that is brought about from watching every person in your team die before your eyes, as you watch,and are incapable of doing anything to shield them from their fate.

Looking down upon the pathetic creature from his point of advantageous hight, he saw it down on all fours like the animal it is. The Titan ever so slightly rotates it's neck to give Levi a full view of the soldier lodged between it's jaws. Giving Levi a full view as the soldier took his last breath, rattling a little in his throat, before the mangled and bloodied carcass was unceremoniously ingested, with a tilt of it's oversized head. Years later, and Levi had had the displeasure of finding himself participating in scenes such as this on multiple occasions. Usually he would thoroughly consider the situation in its entirety before making any decisions he would either come to regret, or be killed by. This, on the other hand, was the first time in all of Levi's years that this had happened to him. Acting accordingly, he grappled onto the thick, stout neck of The Titan, as soon as his lines came into contact using all the gas in as high a quantity he was capable of releasing at one moment. Rushing toward the Titan at a higher pace than he'd ever achieved - even in training - years upon years of built in reflexes kicked in. He angled his two blades correctly, making sure his body was in the correct position, aiming his attack at the nape, and finally, the movement that would end this particular Titans 'life'. The scalpel sharp edges of his twin swords sheared cleanly through the back of the abnormal's neck without resistance, effectively and conclusively subjugating his squad-mates killer. Following contact, Levi braced himself for the sharp impact with the hard earth before it came - just as trained - to reduce the damage taken by the landing following a kill. He landed gracefully and without stumbling, the blind rage that had taken hold of the rational man's movements beginning to subside. The now motionless shell of the Titan slumped to the ground behind him, already beginning to evaporate into nothingness, leaving no evidence of it's existence at all. Even the warm and sticky blood that coated Levi and his weapons would be gone with seconds, the body within minutes.

Levi placed his right fist crossed over his heart, his left behind his back, in a respectful salute in the direction of the carcass, before turning on his heel, making his way to safety.

"Captain?... Hello?"

Slowly and gradually making his way back into the present, the first thing he saw was the palm of Petra's hand. The sight didn't surprise him so much as bring irritation. She would always do this whenever she caught him deep in thought, and he'd always find it overly condescending, especially as he was her superior in rank. It was time such as this that he would let it slide, when he found himself enveloped by his memories when there was a task at hand. As his eyes regained their focus, he looked into her eyes of honey with his of coal, and gave a simple nod of the head, before once again heading in the direction of Trost.


End file.
